Sand casting is a widely used process for making various products used in numerous industries such as medical, electrical, automotive etc. However, the poor mechanical properties and microstructural defects are the challenging concern to the foundry engineers for a last decade. In the present work, the microstructural and mechanical assets of Al 1230 alloy are investigated by slow and rapid cooling in a sand casting process. The effect of cooling strategy is analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and ultimate tensile strength. Eventually, it is observed that the rapid cooling is a more suitable technique, which enhances the microstructural and mechanical properties of the cast component by inducing of silicon particles during the process. Hence, the proposed work is very useful to smart industries for achieving desired mechanical property while fabricating sand cast components. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Conference of Materials Processing and Characterization.